A cutlery set seems like such a simple thing, but it can actually be a bit baffling buying one. Traditionally, there are different knives, forks and spoons for just about everything, but unless you are having the Queen of England round for dinner, chances are you won’t use most of them and you probably don’t have hours to spare reading etiquette books to learn the proper uses and placings of them all either! So instead, let’s just have a look at the basics.

Choosing the Right Knives

Knives for place settings should include knives for everything you actually use. If you don’t eat fish, you don’t need fish knives. If you are vegan, don’t bother buying steak knives, but in general, these are things you should have for dinner parties and even just normal daily meals. Butter knives are also useful to have, especially if you serve bread rolls with your meals.

Picking Out Forks

Generally, you only need two sizes of fork – full sized ones for your main courses and smaller ones for starters and some styles of dessert. You can buy specific dessert forks if you want to have a slightly different edge, but generally if you have some of the smaller forks you use for starters then you can just use these for things like cheesecake that are eaten with a fork rather than a spoon.

Which Styles of Spoon do I Need in My Cutlery Set?

Spoons are the other thing you need to include in your dinner sets. You can get specific styles of spoon just for soup, but on the whole a large spoon such as a dessert spoon will work for soup too. You can get by with just these larger dessert spoons and some tea spoons for hot beverages if you don’t want to pick out all different styles of spoon for different purposes.

Choosing the perfect cutlery is easy when you know what you actually want. Make sure you have adequate knives, forks and spoons for dinner guests and different courses, and of course make sure that they match the style of you plates and bowls – don’t get ornate cutlery if you have very plain, minimalist crockery, or try and match very modern metal knives and forks with elaborate painted china designs. When you have good cutlery it will last a lifetime, so don’t skimp when it comes to quality and price, either.